AUVSI XPONENTIAL is the largest international conference for unmanned systems and robotics. Technology innovations in unmanned vehicle systems have been racing ahead, and commercial applications have recently “taken off” as aviation and maritime regulations become more user friendly.  These and many other topics were discussed during AUVSI’s Xponential in Dallas, Texas May 8th-11th. NOAA UAS Program Director, Robbie Hood, began the week speaking at the AIAA/AUVSI Third Workshop on Civilian Applications of Unmanned Aircraft Systems

DOI, USGS, FS, NOAA UAS – Fire Science Consortium: Measuring fine scale fire behavior and fire effects The DOI, USGS, Forest Service (FS), EPA, NOAA UAS Program met for the Fire Science Consortium: Measuring fine scale fire behavior and fire effects controlled burn in Tallahassee FL 17-23 April.  The Tall Timbers Research & Land Conservancy hosted the event where the team operated Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) over the fire with several UAS/sensors including an iMet meteorology sensor being

DOI’S BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS AND NOAA UAS PROGRAM CO-HOSTED THE INAUGURAL MEETING DURING FEDERAL UAS WORKSHOP AT NASA AMES ON MARCH 28TH. DOI’s Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and NOAA UAS Program co-hosted the inaugural meeting of the Tribal Interest Group for UAS during the Federal UAS Workshopat NASA Ames on March 28th. Several tribal and non-tribal representatives were were present and discussed current Native American UAS operations, future concepts of operations and STEM

NOAA UAS Program briefs Data Management for Environmental Intelligence: A Case Study for the End-to-End Utilization of High- and Low-altitude Unmanned Aircraft Systems The NOAA Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Program Office’s John “JC” Coffey presented the opportunities to expand and transition into routine operations UAS observational capabilities that stand to benefit the organization’s objectives and society at large. Coffey highlighted the importance of data management to provide reliable, real-time environmental intelligence to our science and operational “end-users”.

Robbie Hood gives the keynote speech March 28th on Assessing UAS Observing Strategies for NOAA Earth Observations. Robbie Hood has served as the Director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Unmanned Aircraft Systems Program office since 2008, and was a lead coordinator for this year’s Federal UAS Workshop at NASA Ames March 28-30, 2017.  Her keynote at the workshop focused on Assessing UAS Observing Strategies for NOAA Earth Observations. As part of the Federal

NOAA R.V. Shearwater supports the Spiral Development of UAS technologies currently being deployed by the United States Navy, Coast Guard and NOAA On February 9th, an AeroVironment team met with NOAA personnel and departed Santa Barbara aboard NOAA R/V Shearwater for the operations area in the Channel Island National Marine Sanctuary (CINMS) for on-going testing of the Puma-AE Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS).  This continues a strategic partnership between NOAA and industry in support of the

Aurora Flight Sciences conducts gravimetry missions over California for the State’s High-Speed Rail Program. The Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research’s (OAR) UAS Program and Nation Ocean Service’s GRAV-D Program successfully captured GRAV-D Observations with Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) through a joint Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) effort. In April 2016 industry partner, Aurora Flight Science successfully tested their optionally-piloted aircraft (OPA), Centaur, in an operational capacity for NOAA’s National Geodetic Survey (NGS) program. The

On January 20th, the University of Maryland (UMD) Test Site flew the UAV Solution’s Ace XL for NOAA’s GOES-R and UAS Programs. The team conducted six flights and were successful in collecting all of the data points as per their requirements. Some of the notable maneuvers and testing included: Project Manager Frank Padula added, “Friday was a fantastic and successful flight day. Our GOES-R data analysis is looking good from this collection. It seems we

NOAA UAS Program’s Sensing Hazards with Operational Unmanned Technology (SHOUT) Project: A Case Study for the End-to-End Utilization of High- and Low-altitude Unmanned Aircraft Systems The American Meteorological Society 97th Annual Meeting: AMS will hold its annual meeting in Seattle with a theme of “Observations Lead the Way.” Many NOAA scientists will take part in panels on a wide range of topics including the Next Generation Weather Prediction System, NOAA’s Big Data Project, transitioning social

NOAA’s Sensing Hazards with Operational Unmanned Technology (SHOUT) Project: Strategies for Improving and Augmenting Existing Satellite and Manned Aircraft Observations with Recent Pacific El Niño and Atlantic Hurricane Rapid Response Global Hawk Flights The American Meteorological Society 97th Annual Meeting: AMS will hold its annual meeting in Seattle with a theme of “Observations Lead the Way.” Many NOAA scientists will take part in panels on a wide range of topics including the Next Generation Weather

ESIP follows NOAA’s Environmental Data Management Workshop bringing Inter-Agency data management expertise together The Federation of Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP) 2017 theme is Strengthening Ties Between Observations and User Communities. The theme is based on one of the goals in the 2015 – 2020 ESIP Strategic Plan, which provides a framework for the Federation’s activities over the next three years. The 2017 theme will be woven into meeting sessions, collaboration-area activities and community outreach,

ESRL’s PSD establishes Preliminary Data Archiving for Global Hawk UAS Missions 2015-16 The goal of the Sensing Hazards with Operational Unmanned Technology (SHOUT) mission is to evaluate the ability of observations from unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) to improve the forecasts of high-impact weather events and mitigate any degradation in the forecasts in the event of a gap in satellite observations. The project has collected observations during three dedicated campaigns with the NASA Global Hawk to

A high-flying, long-endurance drone that once spied for the U.S. Air Force is in the final phases of a tryout for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as a storm chaser. So far, the judges are impressed. The aircraft – the Global Hawk, and one of the first ones built – has successfully flown observational patterns directly above five Atlantic hurricanes over the past two years, dropping data-gathering canisters called sondes and taking atmospheric readings

Conference was 12-15 December, Santa Fe, New Mexico The NOAA UAS Program participated in the UAS TAAC (Unmanned Aircraft Systems Technical Analysis and Applications Center) conference to discuss critical issues regarding UAS in a productive, value-added environment. TAAC 2016 included briefings from several federal agencies (DoD, NASA, DHS, DOE, DOI), aviation user groups such as AOPA, AIA, as well as universities, and private industry. This year’s TAAC included briefings from the FAA’s test sites, Center